The panel started off sort of awkwardly with Mark Waid being a little flustered by the lack of a visual presentation for the panel. Apparently he was expecting a slideshow or powerpoint display of some sort.
Waid then figured out which issue of Irredeemable had most recently hit the stands, so he could tease future events without spoiling. Here’s some of the tidbits that Waid spilled;
Qubit’s motives for not killing Plutonian will be revealed shortly as will the secret history of The Hornet and why he was so important to everyone’s plan.
Modeus’ motivation for hating The Plutonian is something he thought up as a unique reason for a villain hating the hero. He said that it gave him chills just to think of it.
Alana Patel, Plutonian’s former girlfriend, will play a larger role in Incorruptible and become a supporting player.
Waid his an idea of third “I” book to go along with “Irredeemable” and “Incorruptible,” but it’s still in the works and won’t be announced before it’s ready.
Irredeemable and Incorruptible with be “brushing up” against each other more in the upcoming year.
Vold and Scylla were killed because Waid didn’t know what to do with them. After going off on an entertaining tangent involving both Crossgen and the Atomic Knights, Waid revealed that the only reason Scylla died was because Charydbis could have the nickname “Cary.” Scylla didn’t have a nickname, so Scylla died.
When asked about what more huge acts of violence The Plutonian would engage in, Waid recounted a funny anecdote about the bad timing between Singapore being destroyed in Irredeemable and his own personal trip to Singapore.
Waid also spoke on Boom! Studios upcoming collaborations with Stan Lee on three titles.
Soldier Zero is first. It’s about a disabled veteran, disenchanted with violence, who becomes bonded with an alien weapon of war. It’s by Stan Lee, Paul Cornell and Javier Pina.
Traveller is a time travel story about a guy who can manipulate time. It’s by Stan Lee, Mark Waid and Chad Hardin.
And Starborn is about a regular Joe who has created a fantasy world in his head, vivid enough to fills a dozen novels. However it soon become clear that the world is real and he’s royalty in it. It’s by Stan Lee, Chris Roberson and Khary Randolph.
The three titles share a universe “subtly.”
Waid briefly touched up on his upcoming Captain America miniseries, which covers the time after Cap was thawed out in the modern era. Waid addressed what it’s like to be a man out of time, especially in the modern age of a 24-hour news cycle.
At which point Waid expressed sympathy for Lindsay Lohan and promptly came up with the idea of a book featuring a disgraced/fallen child sidekick.
Waid ending things by discussing Boom! Studios in general. Waid commented that through their exclusive contracts Marvel and DC have the majority of the artistic community locked down. However he noted that his staff diligently checks the Boom! Studios message boards and scours the internet artistic community in search of new talent.
The failure of High Rollers was a huge surprise to Waid. According to him it’s demise was due to it’s leads being Black, which resulted in the lack of an audience in southern states.
Boom! Studios’ biggest surprise were the Muppet books. Waid predicted failure and was happily wrong. Waid attributed the success of the books to comic book readers who have children of their own and are hungry for a book they can share with their kids.
Waid ended the panel recounting how the movie Superman was a turning point in his life, as it inspired him to become a comic book creator.
